Arsenal came from a goal down to beat Tottenham 5-2 in the north London derby at the Emirates on Saturday afternoon.

Tottenham got off to a great start when Adebayor gave them an early lead by the striker turned villain when he was sent off for a lunge on Cazorla shortly after. Arsenal made 10-man Spurs pay and went 4-1 up through goals from Mertesacker, Podolski, Giroud and Cazorla before Bale pulled one back to give the visitors hope. However, Walcott wrapped the game up with a late fifth. Here are player ratings from the game.

Arsenal Ratings

Szczesny – 6 – Decent stop from Defoe’s shot that fell for Adebayor to tap in and could little about Bale’s well hit strike. Had little else to do and swept up well behind his defenders and calm in possession.

Sagna – 8 – A true warrior. Put his head on everything and gave his all for the Gunners. Together with Walcott he ran riot down the right, particularly in the first half when they targeted Naughton.

Mertesacker – 6 - At fault for the opener but made up for it with a superb headed goal. However, was dragged out of position for Spurs second and didn’t recover his position in time to cut out Bale’s shot.

Koscielny – 7 – Steady next to the big German but was sloppy for Tottenham’s second.

Vermaelen – 6.5 - Looked a little shaky early on when Lennon gave him some problems but settled once Arsenal took control of the game.

Wilshere – 7 – Ran the midfield, especially when Spurs were down to 10 and he had more space to work with.

Arteta – 6 - Dictated play and again his influence was felt more after the dismissal of Ade. Looked a little tired later on.

Cazorla – 9 – Superb. Almost unplayable at times. Set up the important second goal, scored the fourth and was the creative heartbeat of the home side. Back to his best.

Podolski – 7 - Huge improvement on recent performances. Worked his socks off, supported Vermaelen, ran down the ball and contributed with a goal and a great assist.

Walcott – 8.5 – Excellent display as the ‘contract rebel’ gave Arsene Wenger another reason to pay him what he wants. Ripped Naughton apart in the first half, setting up Arsenal’s equaliser with a great cross and capped off a fine performance with a deserved late goal.

Giroud – 7 - Continued is excellent recent goal-scoring run making it 4 goals in 3 games. Looks to be settling in at the Emirates and always puts a shift in up front.

Subs

Santos – 6 – Came on for Podolski to shore up the left side late on. Didn’t put a foot wrong and kept possession well.

Ramsey – 5 – Gave away possession cheaply on a couple of occasions and wasted a good chance on the break when he went for the ‘Hollywood’ ball.

Chamberlain – 7 - Made a real impact in his 10 minutes on the pitch. A couple of excellent runs, one of which set up Walcott for the fifth.

Tottenham Ratings

Lloris – 5 – Thrown in to a north London derby for his first league start, you had to feel for him. Some will argue he could have done better with at least three of Arsenal’s goals and didn’t look confident throughout.

Walker – 5 - Looked short of fitness and was at fault for Arsenal’s third as he allowed Cazorla to waltz past him. Replaced at half time.

Gallas – 5 - Tough day for the former Arsenal captain. Struggled to contain the home sides attack all afternoon.

Vertonghen – 6 – Like his defensive partner, the Belgian struggled at times especially when pitted against Walcott in the first half.

Naughton – 4 - Out his depth at left back. Couldn’t get near Walcott and Sagna and was put out his misery at half time.

Sandro – 6 - Gave away several cheap fouls early on and eventually earned himself a booking. Tried his best to hold the Spurs midfield together after they went down to 10-men.

Huddlestone – 5 – Completely over-run in the middle and couldn’t get near Cazorla and Wilshere.

Bale – 6.5 - Tottenham’s only real outlet but dealt with well by Sagna. Gave the away side hope with a fine long-range strike for 4-2 and went close to grabbing a third shortly after, although he should have squared for Defoe instead of taking the shot on.

Lennon – 6 – Looked lively in the early stages and went close to putting Spurs 2-up but was very quiet when Arsenal took control.

Adebayor – 3 – Was on hand to tap home to put the visitors ahead but reckless tackle got himself sent off and gave Spurs a mountain to climb.

Defoe – 5 – Superb run and shot set up the opener and continued to make runs throughout the game, but was starved of supply as Spurs lost control of midfield.

Subs

Dawson – 6.5 – Came on at half time and gave a calming influence to the newly shaped back three. Made two excellent blocks at the near post. Should start ahead of Gallas on todays display.

Dempsey – 5 – Made little impact after his half time introduction.

Carroll – 6 - Looked lively after coming on for final 20 minutes and showed some excellent touches on the ball.

19 Comments

Emmanuel

November 17, 2012 at 7:17 pm

nice game from arsenal.i got scared when santos was up and it left me wondering who was goin to come out.happy he was’nt given an outright defencive role.well he kept good possesion unlike him.all praises to carzola for an excellent performance.as for wallcot,arsenal should’nt loose another star man as he continues to prove himself.we can say Giroud is doin well with his goals but the guy is dull..jeez!!.ARSENAL…thumbs up for you guys

He usually keeps good possesion, is just that our left side when not in possesion is pressured and taken advantage of. Personally beside the aerial attributes, i do not think verms does any better than santos as the same problem of not getting adequate help from the midfield and wingers still remains

too right about dawson starting ahead of gallas..& what about lloris starting ahead of freidel? also need to consider the fact that had ade not gone we could well have won this game but with a man advantage you’d expect any home side to look good against a depleated team trying to attack
if you really want to know how good arsenal are watch them against a side with the same amount of players as them..

Be fair mate, 10 against 11 is always a challenger but AFC did outplay the Totts from start to finish and deserve the win…there is NO proof that Spuds could have won the game…last season….11-11 and we still won 5-2!

Love the look on jacks face in the picture. He’s such a true gooner. Great result today. Was a great atmosphere at the ground as well. Shame some of the spurs fans left early, AGAIN! but I guess we should be used to that lol

I’m not so sure about the ratings for Sagna and Szczesny: Sagna made the same error as Mertesacker for Adebayor’s goal (hopeless attempt to play the offside trap) and I kind of think Szczesny might have done a little better in saving Defoes’s shot. He tends to worry me when the ball is at his feet as well – he comes perilously close to getting caught in possession sometimes. I think you’re a bit harsh on Lloris as well: he handled pretty well and made a superb save from Giroud at 1-1. Walcott was vital to Arsenal’s success today: I know he isn’t perfect, but he is a serious weapon against most teams. He gave Tottenham no end of trouble today. Desperately hope we don’t lose him.

I believe mannone won’t concede that first goal…but it is good we are back in winning ways. Who said if ade was not sent off we would not win or we only won because we have a player more? Have they all forgotten we both started 11-11? We even scored a goal after JW10 was sent off at old trafford… spurs are not just good enough to cope with situations that might come their way when they play with brainless players like gallas and adebawhore.

Szczesny rating to me is too high.he rarely had anything to do and when he was called in action made me nervous. first goal he should have saved and was nowhere near the other… (wonder how much Vito would have gotten if it were him). Not solid on the corners either but his distribution for the most part was ok.

Some perspective needed.
We generally played well against 10 unsurprisingly putting the under pressure but didn’t have it all our own way.
We were second best playing 11.
The game could have finished 4-4.
Concentration organisation and discipline slipped seriously in the last quarter.
Goals well crafted and well taken.
Agree about Cazorla and Arteta but it was the other way round last week.

I am still conviced that arsenal will soon be the most dangerous team in europe.what we need is get walcot’s contract issue sorted out quickly and get some few players who know what it is to dorn an arsenal shirt.currently we have(wilshere,walcot,sagna,podolski,giroud,bfg,cosilny,jekinson,the ox ,tv 5)they give their all for the team.

The ratings are about right but some of the comments are poor, the Tottenhams goal was the fault of all the back four trying to push up not Mertesackers. Dragged out of position?Were you watching the same game? Also Cazorla didn’t set up the second goal,he set up the third goal.Finaly Wilshere didn’t exactly run the midfield, he performed ok and it wasn’t a surprise he got substitued.

This is a reverse score line 4rm last season,bt some pple said b’cus they hv down to 10 man can anybody remind them last season that they did not hv red card & still ended Arsenal 5 vs Tottenham 2.my most happiness is 4 per mertasacker who hv open his account especiall in a derby game & giroud hv fine his goal scoring boot.up gunner’s 4lf,4real,4rever

This is a reverse score line 4rm last season,bt some pple said b’cus they hv down to 10 man can anybody remind them last season that they did not hv red card & still ended Arsenal 5 vs Tottenham 2.my most happiness is 4 per mertasacker who hv open his account especiall in a derby game & giroud hv fine his goal scoring boot.up gunner’s 4lf,,4rever

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